Return to Reason

Media:	Hardcover
Author:	Stephen Toulmin
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Release date:	01 March, 2001
Our price:	$24.95

Return to Reason

Average rating: Stars

Don't agree with tiglath_iii's review

My experience in reading this book has been opposite of what tiglath_iii describes. The point of this book is almost too clear, given the author's repeated efforts to summarize it clearly (i.e. "there is too much emphasis on reason and not enough consideration of practical and contextual factors in understanding, a situation that has developed in philosophy only since the seventeenth century and has become cemented in our thinking only in the twentieth"). To say "His name dropping is incessant and intrusive" is unfair: Every source discussed is well-introduced, and he seems to deliberately avoid making his argument too academic or too technical. I will grant that the idea could be expressed more concisely, but it seems to me that the point of the book is to show that concise, streamlined argumentation is very often artificially abstracted, and so its conclusions are very often "useful" in a limited sense. It seems to "practice what it preaches," in that sense. One can hardly fault Toulmin for writing in a sometimes meandering, anecdotal style when his subject is the damaging effects of overemphasizing logical argumentation.
I have been looking for writers (besides Rorty) who address the growing resistance of philosophers to the suggestions of the those in the humanities (in Toulmin's terms, defending "logic" against the "casuistry of rhetoric"), and Toulmin's book was just what I was looking for. I had trouble putting this book down once I started it, and wanted to read more when I was done.

Return to Reason - Stephen Toulmin

A Few Nuggets in Muddy Waters.

This is a book that fails to engage the reader. The subject is of immense interest to me, yet I found it hard to keep reading. Toulmin meanders and piles information and thoughts furiously in a way that distracts rather that concentrates the reader's attention. His name dropping is incessant and intrusive. Unlike Bertrand Russel, to whom he frequently refers, and who had a lucid, accessible way to layout complex thoughts, Toulmin, who doubtlessly has a mastery of the subject, joins the ranks of those who know much but can't communicate it well.

If one is prepared to make the crouching effort to pan for gold in this book, however, one doesn't end up empty handed. The book's premise of contrasting rationality and reasonableness deserves attention despite its difficult framing. Although the idea could have been expressed much more concisely. Reading Chapter 13 "Postcript: Living with Uncertainty" would suffice to know the central tenet of the book. The rest is background information delivered as intricate fill.

If I had to summarize the key points of each chapter I would have to read it several times. I read with a pen in my hand ready to mark memorable paragraphs and sentences to aid revision. There is very little I've marked in this book.

Stephen Toulmin - Return to Reason

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